In Russia, Internet censorship 'on a whim'

New
York, June 26, 2013--Prosecution and
court authorities in the central Russian city of Ulyanovsk should act
immediately to rescind an order that blocks public access to an independent
news site, among several others, in a case notably lacking in evidence, legal
basis, and fair play, the Committee to Protect Journalists said today.

"It's censorship
based on a whim," CPJ Europe and Central Asia Program Coordinator Nina
Ognianova said.

The
state-owned Internet provider Rostelecom, which holds a virtual monopoly in and
around Ulyanovsk, blocked access to several websites, including the independent
news website Gazeta, last week, according to news reports. The exact date
of the blocking is not clear because none of the websites were told of the ban
at the time. The court ruling, which was issued on May 23 and subsequently
reviewed by CPJ, lists only URLs to the websites. CPJ's review of the linked
sites showed that some involve employment listings. It is not
immediately clear why they would have been targeted. Three other
regional websites, which publish news and entertainment, also appear to be
among the blocked sites.

Rostelecom
representatives told Gazeta that it
had blocked the websites in response to an order issued by the Leninsky
District Court in late May. The court order stemmed from a regional prosecutor's
complaint that had accused the websites of propagating corruption by publishing
articles with instructions on how to bribe civil servants and avoid punishment for
committing crimes. The prosecutor's office said it had filed the claim against
the websites on its own initiative and not because of complaints by local
residents, local press reported.

In
the ruling, the court did
not clearly state what specific laws the websites had allegedly violated, and did
not name the articles that allegedly "contained information on the ways to give
bribes, circumstances when it is necessary to offer a bribe, as well as the
ways to avoid criminal responsibility for the committed criminal action."

Aleksandr
Barinov, a journalist with Gazeta, told CPJ that the staff was not aware
of what articles could have led to the blocking. CPJ research shows that in
February 2009, the news website published a letter sent
by a reader called "I can teach you how to give bribes," which detailed a
first-person account of Russian officials encouraging her to bribe them
in exchange for their services.

Gazeta reported that it
was not notified of the court hearings against it and was, therefore, not
present in court when the ruling was issued. Gazeta said on Tuesday that
it had learned of its blocking in Ulyanovsk from local residents, who called to
say they could not access the site. Gazeta
said it was considering appealing the ruling.

Another
news website that was blocked has since been restored. Komsomolskaya Pravda,
a pro-government news website, reported on Wednesday
that Rostelecom had restored access to its site. The site suggested that
prosecutors had blocked their website because of a 2002 satirical article, called
"Test: are you accepting bribes?" It is
unclear if Komsomolskaya Pravda obtained
an unblocking order from the court.

"How could
authorities approve this order without any apparent legal basis or evidence,
and without even bothering to notify the defendant? It shows how easily
Internet censorship can be imposed," Ognianova said. "We call on the Ulyanovsk
prosecutor's office to retract its claim against Gazeta, the Leninsky
District Court to reverse its decision, and Rostelecom to restore access to the
website."